The 2023 Miami Dolphins season was defined by disappointing play from their backup quarterbacks. With starter Tua Tagovailoa missing six starts due to various injuries, the pressure was on Skylar Thompson, Tim Boyle, and Tyler Huntley.
Unfortunately, they were unable to step up to the call and went 2-4 in their starts. Their only wins coming over the hapless New England Patriots and Cleveland Browns, both teams that would pick in the top 5 of the draft.. With the Dolphins missing the playoffs by a single game, the inability to get quality starts from backups loomed large heading into the offseason.
The team’s first move was allowing both Skylar Thompson and Tyler Huntley to move on. Boyle was poached by the New York Giants in the season. Thompson has since been signed by the Pittsburgh Steelers to a reserve/future contract, and Huntley remains a free agent.
Next, they needed to find a player who could be expected to fill in for Tua should he get injured again in 2025. They ultimately settled on Zach Wilson, formerly of the Broncos, but more famously a former first-round pick by the rival New York Jets.
I previously wrote about the Wilson signing in depth and my theory as to why he appealed to Miami over other potential backups. That piece can be found here. The TL;DR is that I believe that, despite what Wilson has shown so far, he has the physical tools to develop into a solid NFL player. Furthermore, Mike McDaniel is one of the better coaches in the league at unleashing the potential of starting quarterbacks, as evidenced by Tua’s growth since the team hired its current head coach.
Miami however couldn’t stop there, they needed a younger quarterback to develop in case Wilson fails to progress. There were many interesting prospects slated to be taken after the first round before the 2025 NFL Draft. I personally was highest on Alabama’s Jalen Milroe and Oregon’s Dillion Gabriel, which I wrote about here. I never foresaw Shedeur Sanders falling as far as he di,d or else I would have more closely considered him. The Dolphins didn’t draft any of the quarterbacks mentioned above, instead taking a chance on Quinn Ewers out of Texas.
Ewers was once the highest-rated college prospect coming out of High School. Initially signing with Ohio State, he moved to Texas and compiled a 27-9 record, leading the Texans to the college football playoff each of the past two years. Even with that level of success at the college level, Ewers had to wait until the 7th round for the Miami Dolphins to draft him.
Typically, you wouldn’t expect much from the 231st pick in the draft, but the team seems to be happy with their selection. During his post-draft media availability, McDaniel had high praise for the rookie.
“I think one of the things that gives him an advantage as a rookie, just getting started, is that overlap. McDaniel said, “I think the way that he orchestrates the offense from the motion timing and really anticipating things, there’s a fit there.”
Eweers is a proven winner in college and certainly seems to have solid attributes that help quarterbacks thrive in the league. It will come down to the coaching and how much potential McDaniel is going to be able to get out of Ewers. I wouldn’t be entirely surprised to see him beat Wilson out for the backup job. Ideally we never have to see him play outside of preseason but if we do I think he could be the steal of the draft.
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